Mysterious Things Are Happening YA Book Display

 These books were tagged (sticky noted) with 3 -4 keywords to help describe them.

Now either the subject matter was especially compelling to this months library visitors or the keyword-sticky-notes were a hit but this was BY FAR the most popular book display of the year. 

Usually my book displays are changed monthly . . . depending on what's happening. This display was changed 3 weeks later because it only had 2 books left. 

Keywords were taken from book descriptions and Goodreads. 

Where on Goodreads? When viewing a book, below the summary is a "Genres" list. Click on "More . . ." then "Show All . . . ". You will be taken to a Top Shelves list. This is how other people have listed this book on their account.

National Poetry Month Passive Program

 

Finding new activities for National Poetry Month is tricky sometimes. I was very lucky to come across this idea for a rainbow poem. I do not have the original source to credit. 

 

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Up, Up and Away Story Time

 

Originally this was "Let's Go Flying" with a kite theme but it changed over the course of its creation. 

BOOK

Stuck by Oliver Jeffers and A Friend For Ghost by Suzanne Kaufman. 

One little boy greatly enjoyed Stuck but several of the parents enjoyed the latter, which was checked out directly following storytime

RHYME

This rhyme was done towards the end. Scarves were passed out and kids were instructed to wave their scarves in the air for the line "the wind blew hard" and to make wind noises for the line "the wind blew loud".

5 Little Kites

Way up high in the sky so blue
5 little kites flew and flew.
The wind blew hard and the wind blew loud
And the wind blew the green kite off to the clouds.

SCARF SONG

With our scarves out, we sang a generic scarf song.

My Scarf Goes Up and Down (Tune: The Farmer in the Dell)

My scarf goes up and down
My scarf goes up and down
Heigh ho, the derry-o
My scarf goes up and down.

My scarf goes in a circle
My scarf goes in and out

I asked the group how else our scarves could fly. They came up with 2 new verses.

My scarf goes in a triangle

My scarf goes in a square

MUSIC SONG

Lastly, we danced with our scarves to Julie Andrews, "Let's Go Fly A Kite" from the Mary Poppins movie. 

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Name Story Time

 

Names are very special and sometimes there are special reasons or stories behind why you were given your name! 

This story time celebrates your name. 

BOOK

My Name by Supriya Kelkar and Always Anjali by Sheetal Sheth.

Originally I had planned to read Tikki Tikki Tembo but upon research, learned that it is viewed as a racist story. So at the last minute, I had to change my books around. 

RHYME

This one involves crowd participation! For this one, each kid can share their name to be used in the rhyme. 

We did a simple beat for this as well - clap and then pat your lap with both hands.

Hickety Pickety Bumble Bee

Hickety pickety bumble bee
Won't you say your name for me?
Rhonda
Let's clap and say it
Rhon-da (clap each syllable)
Let's say it loud!
Rhon-da (clap each syllable again)
Let's say it quiet
Rhon-da (clap each syllable again)

SONG

We sang this song at summer camp all the time. It's a movement building song. So begin with pushing the button with your right hand. Then repeat verse adding a new body part while continuing pressing buttons with the prior body parts.

Hi My Name Is Joe

Hi, my name is Joe
And I work in a button factory
Got a wife, 3 kids and a family
One day, my boss said "Joe
Push the button with your right hand"

Repeat verses with . . . 

left hand, right foot, left foot, head

ACTIVITY

At the end, we looked up our names in a baby name book to see what the meanings of our names were. Unfortunately not all names were in the book I had but it was still interesting!

For an after story time activity, I had coat of arm templates left over from a previous craft that I pulled out. 

They were tied into the theme this way: Hundreds of years ago, in medieval times, some families had a coat of arms. They would be covered in images or symbols - like a family logo.

Kids were instructed to take a coat of arms and design one with that in mind. What symbols define you? What symbols define your family?

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